Benn travels to Northamptonshire to visit AD plant

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn visited an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant operated by Biogen Greenfinch at Northamptonshire to see how the facility deals with food waste.

Waste from the West London Waste Authority and companies in the region such as Sainsburys, Waitrose and Whitbread go to the Westwood AD. The plant converts this waste into enough electricity to power 2,700 homes, and the digestate left over is a nutrient-rich fertiliser which is spread on to adjacent farmland.

Benn met representatives from Biogen Greenfinch to tour the facility and discuss the options for increased use of AD of food waste.

Benn said: Rather than dumping our food waste into landfill, using it to generate low-carbon electricity and provide environmentally friendly fertiliser for farming is a much better option both for the environment and economically.

AD is a growth area and we will continue to encourage companies such as Biogen Greenfinch to expand and provide more digesters across the country.

His visit follows Defras consultation on restricting items that can be sent to landfill including food waste (18 March).

That was 2018 – the year when China’s ban on most waste material imports really showed how decisions in one country can affect those on the other side of the world, as the UK and others scrambled to find alternative capacity.

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